I feel like I never stop grading. It is the bane of my existence and profession. Teaching would be so much more enjoyable if I didn’t have to grade so much.

When I come across strong essays with salient and original analysis, I am somewhat mollified, but that feeling only lasts so long until I come across any number of writing sins.

My number one pet peeve? Any of my white students (note: I am white), especially my white male students, slipping into their writing or side conversations how oppressed they are as a white person (real examples: “Just because I like Starbucks doesn’t mean I should be called ‘basic’, “The media and press always focus on how racist white people are, but that in itself is discrimination”).

I get it—they’re half-formed humans, they’re probably hearing this crap at home, and not all of them can fully grasp the complexities and nuances of oppression, power, and intersectionality (yet many of my students of color totally get it), but goddamn it, I want to bash my head against the wall when I hear or read shit like this, especially since I am not always in a position to correct them in a nuanced and understandable way.